Publix Reusable Bags: An Inside Look

In 2001, Publix created a program for environmental responsibility. The program began with an emphasis on energy conservation and has grown to include waste reduction, recycling, and conservation of other resources, including water.

From in-store displays to “Remember Your Bags” reminder signs on cart corrals, we encourage our customers to use reusable bags. Taking advantage of these environmentally friendly bags is important to our sustainability efforts because it minimizes the amount of plastic bags being sent to landfills or entering the environment through improper disposal. We really appreciate the use of reusable bags by our customers, and because of this, we asked our Sustainability and Purchasing departments to offer insight about what goes into creating the reusable bags you use during your shopping trips.

Sustainability Effort

At Publix, we believe it’s critical to find a balance between the needs of humanity and the needs of our planet. To reduce the number of plastic bags used in our stores, we started offering reusable shopping bags to our customers more than 20 years ago. However, it wasn’t until 2007 that the idea really began to catch on.

Because of the surge in popularity of reusable bags, our use of plastic bags has dropped significantly. Though we are not able to count the exact number of customers that use reusable bags in our stores, we are able to estimate the number of disposable paper and plastic bags that we are saving as a result of reusable bags. Each store is given a plastic bag reduction goal and the results are tracked company wide. The numbers are impressive. Since 2007, we’ve hit a major milestone of saving over 4 billion paper and plastic bags!

To help meet their reduction goals, stores provide ongoing training to associates and pursue more efficient packing methods.

For those customers who prefer to use paper or plastic bags, we provide recycle bins at the front of each of our stores. We know that the plastic bags brought back and placed in recycle bins make up a substantial portion of our recycle stream and we’d like to thank you!

Fun fact: Our current plastic shopping bags consist of up to 35 percent recycled material rather than using new plastic products.

Creating Our Bags

The Green Bag Company manufactures the majority of our Publix non-woven polypropylene reusable bags. Non-woven polypropylene is a material known to be lightweight but strong. It is a recyclable fabric that is easy to clean and convenient to carry.

When it comes to creating our reusable bags, the Purchasing department collaborates with our Marketing team to develop the designs and graphics you’ve come to love. Our Marketing team plays a key role in design elements such as artwork, color palates, and logo approvals.

We incorporate designs into the bags we offer every day, as well as the many different seasons and holidays. Our teams work almost a full year in advance on various graphics, designs, and colors for our bags. Some examples of designs include those for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, summer, and spring— just to name a few. Most of these are, and have been different from year to year. Simply put, our seasonal bag designs are made new for you every year!

Similar to the bags designed for holidays, we work on bags for key programs such as Food for Sharing and Tools for School. We also make special bags for store grand openings!

At Publix, our goal is to meet today’s needs without compromising what is essential for tomorrow. This is why we have created initiatives to reduce the consumption of paper and plastic grocery bags used at checkout through the use of reusable bags.

Do you use Publix reusable bags? Let us know which designs have been your favorite.

If you love to read about ways to use your favorite products and foods in surprising ways, Aijana W. is going to be the blogger to watch. A member of the Publix family since 2014, Aijana loves to explore the diverse corners of social media and hopes you leave our blog with great ideas as well as a better sense of who Publix is as a company. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, dancing, trying new restaurants, and of course – eating Publix GreenWise Salted Caramel Ice Cream!

I love my reusable bags, and my favorite is my Earth Day bag with alligators and flamingos on it, from a few years back. I have to say that I have not bought new reusable bag in over a year, because the designs have just been kind of boring. I’m hoping that you’ll be coming out with some more colorful and fun bags, like in years past. I look forward to getting some new bags soon.

Cool stuff. I like using the reusable bags because they definitely cut down on how many bags are used in general. There’s something I’ve been wondering about in regard to the bags for a while now…

I remember a few years ago the Publix stores I went to used to offer reusable bags that you could fold up into little squares that you could secure with a small plastic button. I loved being able to hold a few of those in my car door for those impromptu visits I would have to make once in a while, but they soon disappeared, making me think they had been discontinued.

Did they become a bit too expensive to manufacture? Or were they not selling as well as the normal ones?

Philip, I was able to find out that based on the sales history we no longer carry the bags you’re referring to, and at this time we have no plans to bring them back.
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